Went to Discount Tire yesterday to replace all four tires in my truck. While I was waiting there, I saw at least 10 more people come in wanted to buy tires for their vehicle. Every single one of them acted like spending $600+ was a complete financial disaster. Several had their credit cards declined. Several inquired about payment plans. And several others are part about coupons.  And several wanted discount tire to fix the tires for free.

Is average person really that broke right now? Replacing the tires for me was an inconvenience, however these people it was literally a complete financial disaster.

$600 for four tires?

lucky.

That's America. Got a $1000 iphone but cant afford new tires

Any attractive customers looking for an, hmm, side job?  It is the end of the month.

Right!  Just spent $1,300 for tires on my truck.

Sorry, you said two tires or four tires?

$600 sounds more like two tires...

It's always been like that from my experience even going back to the 90s.

Hopefully more stimmy will be coming soon...

Payment plan for tires? Yikes

A literal shitload of people don't keep any "spare money" for things like "my car needs new tires."

Paycheck to paycheck is real.

I've been in the busines since the 90s. Been like that the whole time.

Most have less than 1 months bills in savings but have 5-10x annual income in debt.

Where the fuck you getting 4 truck tires for $600?

Priorities, man.  Gotta get that social media dopamine hit first; new tires, food and clothes for the kids, that's not a concern any longer.

$600 for 4 tires??

more like "Poor's"...

Bigger_Hammer

Yea. My tires on a small "suv" have never been that cheap. Always $700-800. And on my new car with 19" wheels I know they're going to be more expensive. Plus I'm sure tire prices in general have gone up since the last set I've gotten.

Then again I know a guy that's always buying 1 or 2 used tires to get by.

Any options to finance? Also, did you happen to see what kind of cars they were driving?

I'd love to get 4 new tires for $600.

I bought 5 for my Wrangler in December for $1400 out the door.

They could afford $1,000 tires if they paid for them the same way they pay for their $1,000 iPhone.

Well, there are people who want everything for free. Then there others who are price shoppers to get the best deal.
Then others who say I need the let's just get this shit done...

As everything else things have gone up in price.

Back in December I had to replace tires in my truck. The tires were falken wildpeak A/T. From the last time I purchased them to this go around they jumped about $80 more per tire. I was a bit shocked and did a little shopping around. Ended up with Coopers for alot less.

I would say many people are getting sticker shock with tires. Some had significant increases in price. So from the last time they purchased tires to now, they get the surprise price and try to negotiate.
Can't blame them for trying.

N_H thread

I spent $1,700 on four tires for my truck and $650 on my wife's Mustang.

That was a fun day.

The $600 cost was for a Honda Accord.

If your credit card is melting down at $600, then you are truly in a bind, already.

My wife's Mazda just got new shoes... $584 after everything. For 2.

$600 for 4? Are they made of used condoms compressed together?

Honda Accord
Lexus ES 350
Honda Civic
Chevrolet Transverse
Chevrolet Impala
Chevrolet Malibu
Toyota Camry
Etc

I know its CNBC but still relevant  emergency expense article

Published Mon, Jan 11 20219:00 AM EST

Key Points

   Fewer than 4 in 10 people have enough savings to pay for an unexpected $1,000 expense in cash.
   The rest would have to borrow, use a credit card or take out a personal loan.
   While the pandemic has set back emergency savings, many people are optimistic their finances will improve in 2021.

Unexpected bills, like an emergency car repair or medical bill, are a fact of life.

Yet not everyone can afford to pay up when those kinds of unforeseen events arise.

Just 39% of Americans can afford a $1,000 unexpected expense, according to a new survey from Bankrate.com.

The results mark a slight decline in Americans’ ability to over emergencies compared to past years. In 2020, 41% of respondents said they could afford an unexpected $1,000 bill, while 40% said the same in 2019.

Considering high unemployment has persisted throughout the pandemic, capped by more job losses than expected in December, this year’s decrease might not sound that dramatic.

The slight change can be explained by the K-shaped recovery the economy is experiencing, whereby different sectors and workers bounce back at different rates, according to Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com.

“There’s more and more people who have been out of work six months or more,” McBride said. “By the same token, there are households that are getting cabin fever, and it’s that pent-up demand to take a vacation or go to a ball game.”

The rest of the survey respondents indicated they would have to leverage themselves somehow to pay the $1,000 expense — 38% said they would borrow the money, 18% would charge it on a credit card, 12% would borrow from friends or family, and 8% would take out a personal loan.

Unsurprisingly, those who have higher incomes were more likely to be able to cover the surprise bill. The survey found 58% of households with $75,000 or more in annual income could pay up, compared to just 21% of households earning less than $30,000.

Gen Xers were most likely to be able to pay, with 46%, versus 45% of baby boomers and 33% of millennials.

Overall, 44% of people are expecting their finances to improve this year.

Younger millennials are most optimistic their financial fortunes will change in 2021, with 53% expecting their situations to improve. That compares with 47% of older millennials, 45% of Gen Xers and 46% of young baby boomers. Just 28% of those 66 and up said the same, which may be a testament to that cohort’s lingering cynicism from the Financial Crisis, according to McBride.

Much of whether or not that improvement happens will depend on the success of the Covid-19 vaccine rollout.

“That is the bridge to the other side of this pandemic,” McBride said. “Everything really hinges on the success of that.”

Those who are hurting financially probably aren’t focused on saving now.

But they may be able to look forward to help from two sources — stimulus checks and tax refunds — to help them get through this time, provided they qualify.

The government is in the process of sending out $600 payments per person. Meanwhile, President-elect Joe Biden has ramped up his calls for $2,000 checks in recent days.

If you are in a place where you can put money aside — even if it’s just a small amount — your chances are success are better if you resolve to make saving a habit, McBride said.

“As you get back to a full schedule, income that more closely resembles what you had pre-pandemic, set up a direct deposit from your pay check into a dedicated savings account,” McBride said.

Automating savings, where you schedule money to come out of your pay, is key to successfully building cash reserves.

“If you wait until the end of the month and try to save what’s left over, too often there’s nothing left over,” McBride said. “And when there is, there’s no consistency to it.

“That’s why you have to pay yourself first.”

Bankrate.com’s telephone survey was conducted in December and included 1,003 respondents.

Meanwhile, just 18% of respondents said they would reduce their spending on other areas.

For alot of people they cannot comprehend the fact that vehicles need maintenance and things wear out.  They figure if they squirm a bit the tire guy will pull a magical set of tires outta his ass for $100 that he forgot was there.

I like when you are at the gas station and the person in front buys a energy drink, snacks, cigarettes, and lotto but puts the $3.87 change for gas.  Its always a sign of someone that shares the car with multiple people.  Damn car is always on empty!

Let me echo what tires are you getting that cheap? Seems $250 a tire plus all the assorted costs are the norm in my experience.

Always has been. It's not just now, there was a good decade plus where if I needed a  tire suddenly it would have been a real damn problem. That was 20 years ago, and all better now, but still.

Yep.  $1316 for four Michelin Pilot Sport 4, 245/40-19s on Saturday.  That was installed.

Found the issue right here.

Avocado toast, drugs, drinking, Uber eats, iPhone before needs.

Most people in America are actually pretty poor. I'm sure most of that is self-inflicted, and I'm sure their entertainment budget takes the biggest piece of their financial pie.

Being poor in America is still better than being poor anywhere else in the world, and still better off than the average person in lots of places.

I guess I should feel bad for just ordering $3000 worth of tires for my old Porsche then.

It seems many folks just can't be bothered to actually try and save money by not buying the next best thing. Hell my newest vehicle is a 2001, which is why I can afford to splurge once in a while.

I worked at Discount Tire for 10 years. It’s sad how little savings people had to buy tires, or even just a single tire. I’ve given a lot of tires away to help folks out. The company actually used to encourage it.

Lucky them. I spent 1200 on some 22" tires a few months back. I hate going to Discount and try to find alternate sources like Tire rack or so.

Wish my truck only needed $600 tires.  I just put over a grand worth of rubber on my Ram few months ago.  Dam 20's.......

$600?  I  spent over 1.5 k for five tires.

This is one of those weird threads where the OP will attempt to humble brag about how financially secure he is.

Here’s the thing: I hate buying tires too, Even if I think those tires are the coolest fucking tires in the world. Tires for my vehicle are in the $12-$1500 range. It isn’t that I can’t afford them, is that I don’t want to keep buying them. The people buying the tires in OPs story are probably young and just sticker shocked. That or they just don’t like spending a lot of money on things that wear out.

Discount Tire will always price match the competition and beat that price. You can also decline the road hazard insurance certificates and they will offer them to you at a lower price.

Last time I bought tires at Discount Tire, I bought them from their online subsidiary Discount Tire Direct(with a price match from Walmart) and had them delivered to my home. Installed at a retail Discount Tire store a mile from home. Also negotiated the tire road hazard certificates down to 25% of the original price.

Ended up saving $500 for 15 minutes of work on the phone with price matching and having to take my tires up to the shop to be installed.

Tires are expensive, and some people are strapped for cash. I don't think this is anything new. I've seen people running on bald tires ever since I was a kid, poor people have poor ways.

$600.00 for four new truck tires.......  Just what did you have to do to get that kind of price?

Must be an old one. OEM tires on the newer ones are a grand.

Tires are one of those expensive things many people never really think about until one goes flat and you realize the rest of them are bad too.

THIS. Priorities and planning. Financial illiteracy is at a crisis level. Add a real financial crisis and you get disaster.

In on another one of these threads (and a N_H thread to boot...got a twofer here).  

Only took 2 posts for the iphone reference to pop up too that's gotta be a record almost.

To answer your original question OP.  People are normally that broke.

I think many don't realise how fortunate we are.

Geez. $600… for 4.

I was pricing tires for my RV. $1200. Each.  And it had 6 tires.  That and $1000 oil/filter changes helped convince me to sell it.

Maybe. As a kid I'd run 'em 'til the wires showed, but 30ish years later, I've learned to appreciate traction.

I just checked Costco a set of 4 Michelin - CrossClimate2 is $1070 installed. Yea I'm not looking forward to that either

They do have Michelin sales occasionally though.

I mean...I act that way because I'm a cheap bastard.  However, I learned many years ago that tires are one of those things you don't go with the cheap option.

Edit:  To address your second part about fixing tires, does that mean fix flats?  The place I go to fixes my flats for free if I bought them at their place.